F-74 Sahand - Mowj Class
Iran's Navy launched the indigenous Sahand destroyer, named after a mountain in northern Iran, in the southern port of Bandar Abbas on September 8, 2012 alongside the overhauled "super-heavy" Tareq 901 submarine. Although Iranian media charaterize the vessel as a "destroyer", at 1,300 tons this ship is better thought of as a Corvette, and is a bit too small to qualify as a frigate.
Local media in Iran reported 07 July 2024 from Bandar Abbas in south Iran that Sahand which is a Moudge-class frigate in the Southern Fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy suffered an engineering casualty. The Sahand destroyer of the army navy had an accident in the water of Bandar Abbas port city, the capital of Hormozgan Province. The Sahand destroyer, being repaired at a wharf, took on a list due to water infiltration into the tanks. According to the latest media report, a part of the destroyer went under water. Local media have reported that there were injuries in the incident and the injured people have been transferred to the hospital. The reports also said that the incident was the result of a technical failure during a repair operation. due to the low depth in the waters, it is possible to raise the ship and right her trim.
Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani on Friday 01 November 2024 commented on the state of Sahand destroyer, which was salvaged after sinking in Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas in July, Rear Admiral Irani said the vessel is being prepared rapidly. After taking part in a massive war game, Sahand will be dispatched to the northern waters of the Indian Ocean for a mission to ensure security, he noted. Sahand destroyer joined the Navy in December 2018. The destroyer is equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles and a helicopter deck and enjoys electronic warfare systems.
A senior Iranian military official said Iran will launch another indigenous destroyer called Jamaran-3 next year in line with efforts to boost the country's naval capabilities. Deputy Head of the Industry and Research Institute of the Iranian Defense Ministry Mohammad Eslami said on 18 March 2013 that the Jamaran-3 destroyer will become operational by the end of the next Persian calendar year, which started on March 21, 2013.
Iran’s newest destroyer “Sahand” was 70 percent complete and was expected to be launched within the next few months, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said 17 August 2015. Sahand is the third destroyer produced as part of the Mowj (Wave) project, Sayyari told a gathering of Iranian veterans in Tehran, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported. Sahand’s predecessors, Jamaran and Damavand, were in service with the Navy and used for naval missions in international waters.
Iran had been building up its naval power in recent years to protect ships and oil tankers from pirates and deal with a growing hostile US naval presence in and around the Persian Gulf. The Sahand is the third vessel to be developed by the Mowj program after the Jamaran and the Damavand frigates.
On 01 December 2018 the Iranian Navy launched the Sahand at the port of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz. The new destroyer was said to have radar-evading stealth properties [the slab sides are an improvement over previous units], electronic warfare capabilities and a flight deck for helicopters. According to Iranian television, the destroyer is packed with advanced weaponry including anti-ship and anti-aircraft guns, torpedo launchers, surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missiles. The vessel may also soon be fitted with the Kamand close-in weapon system, capable of firing 4,000-7,000 rounds per minute at close-range targets within a range of about 2 km.
The ship is equipped with four engines, and can sustain long-distance voyages for 150 days while accompanied by a support vessel. "This vessel is the result of daring and creative design relying on the local technical knowledge of the Iranian Navy…and has been built with stealth capabilities," Rear Admiral Alireza Sheikhi, head of the shipyard which built the destroyer, told Iran's IRNA news agency.
The new destroyer and the Kharg, another Iranian destroyer is expected to be among the two or three warships Iran plans to send to Venezuela for a goodwill visit sometime "in the near future," according to Iranian Navy Deputy Commander Admiral Tourraj Hassani.
The Sahand is one of Iran’s recent indigenous frigates based on the British-designed Vosper Mark 5. These were supplied by Britain before the revolution and remain in service with the Iranian Navy. The newer Moudge class ships, including Sahand, are iterative improvements with alternative weapon fits. Sahand had distinctive sloping sides which appear more modern and may attempt to reduce its radar signature. Since construction, the ship had been upgraded to include a new AESA radar, 4-8 medium-range air-defense missiles, and double the number of anti-ship missiles.
The Sahand is the third of Mowj-class frigates built by Iran after the Jamaran and the Damavand. According to Press TV, the Sahand has twice the offensive and defensive capabilities as its predecessor, the Jamaran frigate, the lead ship of the Moudge-class of frigates launched in 2010 as part of the Mowj (Wave) program to replace its mostly US-made vessels with indigenous Iranian warships. "This vessel is the result of daring and creative design relying on the local technical knowledge of the Iranian Navy... and has been built with stealth capabilities," Rear-Admiral Alireza Sheikhi, head of the navy shipyards that built the destroyer, told the state news agency IRNA.
Iran launched its first locally made destroyer in 2010 as part of a program to revamp its navy equipment which dates from before the 1979 Islamic revolution and is mostly US-made. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei described the Navy's development of the new ships as proof of Iran's ability to create modern weaponry. He emphasized that Tehran was not looking for confrontation with any other country, but that it would promote its defence capabilities.
Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi announced on 02 December 2018 that Iran is designing a new naval destroyer, called Dena. Speaking on TV, Khanzadi said the Dena will be the newest destroyer that the Navy is going to launch as part of a broad project known as Mowj (wave). His announcement came on the same day that a new homegrown stealth destroyer, called Sahand, joined the Navy. Dena is the name for a mountain in southwestern Iran. Sahand is also the name for a mountain in East Azarbaijan province. The rear admiral said Iran has turned sanctions into an opportunity and become self-sufficient in manufacturing naval gear. “It is now very easy for us to manufacture destroyers like the Sahand, which enjoys a new generation of gearbox,” the commander said, according to the Tasnim news agency.
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